News
Ontario

Just when the winter weather seemed to letting up, much of southern Ontario was blasted with a blanket of snow Wednesday. Niagara Falls residents found themselves once again battling slippery conditions and white outs.
(MIKE DIBATTISTA/QMI AGENCY)

Winter weather returned to Eastern Canada on Wednesday just in time to cause havoc on highways for the morning commute and to stop spring in its tracks.

In Ontario, the northern coast of Lake Erie and many of the communities along the Lake Ontario shoreline expected to see the most snow — up to 25 cm — forcing the closure of college campuses, garbage pick-up, among other things in municipalities all over the province.

School boards across southern and eastern Quebec pre-emptively shut their doors Wednesday morning amid reports that some regions could receive up to 50 cm of snow. The forecast also called for winds of up to 80 km/h.

In Ontario, at least one road death was being linked to the weather.

One person died in a crash on Hwy. 19 south of St. Marys, when a minivan collided with a transport truck on the snowy road.

Lanes of Hwy 401, Canada's busiest highway, were closed in several stretches east and south of Toronto due to multi-vehicle pileups throughout the day.

"We've had a pretty brutal winter with worse days than this," lamented OPP Staff Sgt. Jan Idzenga. "It still amazes me, but does not surprise me, to see motorists bombing down the highway on icy, snow-covered highways."

Atlantic Canada was bracing for up to 40 cm of snow as the storm headed there Wednesday night. It was expected to be mixed with some freezing rain and ice pellets in some areas.

Madeleine MacGowan, of Kitchener, Ont., was not pleased while trudging through downtown Port Dover, Ont., on Wednesday.

"I've been getting ready for the warmer weather and it's just not happening," she said. "Last year at this time I was in shorts and here I am in mitts and a winter coat."